GUWAHATI: Bangladeshi cricketer Shohely Akhter reportedly became the first woman to receive a ban from the International Cricket Council (ICC) due to corruption. The 36-year-old off-spinner has been handed a five-year suspension after admitting to attempting to manipulate matches during the 2023 Women's T20 World Cup, as per reports.
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Despite not being a part of Bangladesh’s squad for the tournament in South Africa, Shohely was allegedly found guilty of trying to influence matches. The ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) discovered that she had allegedly used Facebook Messenger to approach a teammate, identified as ‘Player A,’ before Bangladesh’s game against Australia on February 14, 2023. Shohely allegedly offered 2 million Bangladeshi Taka to the player in exchange for deliberately getting out hit wicket, claiming the money would be provided by her ‘cousin,’ who was involved in illegal betting.
To avoid detection, she allegedly urged her teammate to delete their conversation and keep the matter confidential. However, the approached player rejected the offer and promptly reported the incident to the ACU, submitting voice recordings as proof.
Although Shohely deleted her messages, she eventually admitted to violating multiple sections (2.1.1, 2.1.3, 2.1.4, 2.4.4, and 2.4.7) of the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.
Her suspension is set to take effect from February 10